Abbottabad receives record snowfall
The snowfall started in Abbottabad at 3pm and continued till filing of this report. It has received at least four to six inches of snow while adjoining hills of the city were covered with a thick layer of one-foot snow.
According to reports reaching here, Thandyani and Nathiagali received two to three feet snow, which again caused closure of roads. These roads had been cleared by the C & W Department earlier.
The Abbottabad-Murree road could not be opened for traffic from Donga Gali for the last 16 days while at least 60 per cent link roads in Galyat are still closed.
Assistant director of Road and Works Department, Mohammad Nawaz told Dawn on Sunday that eight heavy machines — two snow blowers, three chain dozers and three heavy duty dozers — were operating from Abbottabad and Murree sides to clear the road. The machines have so far cleared portion of the road from Abbottabad to Barian while from Murree it is cleared up to Donga Gali. He pointed out that some more machines from private construction companies had been hired and would be reaching shortly to join the task.
In Galyat, the snowfall is said to be the heaviest in the last 35 years where the main road is covered with four to six feet, while in the main Nathiagali bazaar its height was at least 12 feet. It took two days to clear the bazaar, as the snow had to be carried two miles away to an open place.
About the link roads, it was said that road from Sajan Gali to Keri Raikey was clear. Thandyani Road was clear up to 22km and efforts were under way to clear the road of Pattan Khurd. In Nathiagali, Mera Rehmat Khan to Khantiyali road was clear, Bara Gali to Sawar Gali road was also clear, it was added.
In the meantime, education department has postponed all examinations of 5th class and 8th class in Abbottabad district due to bad weather and closure of roads.
Power supply, which is also suspended to the entire Galyat belt, is restored up to Nathiagali while in other parts of Galyat, it could not be restored due to poor conditions of the main and link roads where technical staff is facing difficulty to reach the affected points in hilly areas.
Mr Sardar Fazal-ur-Rehman, Nazim of Union Council Nagri Bala (Galyat) has said district govt had started compiling the data of loss of property and lives in Abbottabad district for which he asked all affected to file their claims with the respective union councils.
Power supply: The power supply to Nathiagali has been restored, which was suspended after heavy snowfall a week ago.
In a press release of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) issued here on Monday, it said that the power supply to the hilly areas in the surrounding of Abbottabad was suspended as the heavy snowfall caused a fault in the 132kv lines.
But the Pesco staff continued the work despite heavy snowfall and restored power supply to Nathiagali and its surrounding areas.
The Power supply to high altitude areas in Swat and Shangla districts was also halted due to more than seven feet of snowfall, which damaged transformers and high voltage wires.
It added that the Pesco staff would initiate repair work when the weather was cleared as it was impossible for its staff to reach the hilly areas during the snowfall.
The Pesco suffered a loss of 77 high transmission structure, 112 low transformer structure and 23 power transformers of different categories due to the snowfall.
Meanwhile, the power supply to Bannu, Kohat, Karak, Lachi, Parachinar and Hangu district would remain suspended from 9am to 5pm on Wednesday due to installation of 160MVA power transformer in Sheikh Mohammadi Grid Station, Peshawar.
The area where the power supply would be interrupted are: Matani, Kohat, Bannu, Ghambat, Lachi, Karak, Kohat Cement Factory, Mir Ali, Miran Shah, Razmak, Hangu, Sadda, Alizai, Parachinar, Thal and Gargori.